Barclays Remains Buyers Of AutoZone Following Q4 Results

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE: AZO) fell short of Barclays' fourth-quarter EPS estimates ($14.30 versus $14.32 estimate), but the firm maintains an Overweight rating with a price target of $870.

AutoZone experienced a 3.3 percent increase in revenue, bringing it to $3.4 billion.

Barclays analyst Matthew McClintock referenced a 5.2 percent increase in the company’s commercial business. “Regarding its commercial growth initiative, the company added 116 net new commercial programs during the quarter,” said McClintock.

“However, about 22 percent of its commercial programs are less than three years old and thus as they mature, we expect this segment to become more significant in terms of revenue given the longer term nature of the commercial business.”

Related Link: Weather Woes At AutoZone As Comp Sales Decelerate

AutoZone’s non-commercial business saw a 2.8 percent increase to $2.65 billion, and the company built 96 new stores over the past quarter, bringing the total to 5,814.

Eighty-five (85) percent of AutoZone’s inventory has been shown to be failure and maintenance related products, with 15 percent being discretionary products. In keeping with its inventory initiatives, AutoZone now has 11 mega hubs and 1,900 stores receiving multiple frequency of deliveries.

“We believe AutoZone's inventory initiatives should translate into better parts availability,” stated McClintock.

At time of publication, AutoZone was up 0.34 percent on Friday, trading at $746.17.

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